Your smile - The Next Step

guess who's back

The day had finally arrived. Harper was returning to the studio for the first time in a month. It may not seem like a long time, but in the dance world, that meant she would have missed a lot. Michelle hadn't really filled her in on what was going on, in fact she seemed to have a lot on her mind and hadn't spoken to Harper much at all.

Having some time away was good for Harper though, she felt much more relaxed and didn't want to cry every five minutes which was a real improvement. But one thing had changed and that was Noah.

He had spent weeks constantly ignoring her and was one of the main reasons she needed a break from the studio, but during her time away he had been constantly calling her house. Her mother even said he'd stopped by to see her, but the whole point of leaving was to get away from all the drama that he caused.

She was standing outside the door to the building, she could even see Culture Shock through the window on the lower floor. But something was stopping her from going inside. She couldn't bring herself to walk through the doors. Although she felt ready to go back, it was still a big step and looking up at the towering building made it all feel too real. But she had to do this.

Taking a deep breath and clutching her dance bag, Harper walked into the building and straight up to the studio. She hadn't bumped into anyone so far so it was looking good. She glanced through the slightly open door into the music room and saw that Phoebe was leading a technique class for J Troupe and quickly rushed past before anyone could see but she accidentally collided with someone.

"Harper!" Noah exclaimed in shock. His eyes were wide like a deer caught in headlights as he looked at her like she was the ghost of Christmas past. "You're back?"

"Yeah, I guess so." She replied quietly, not managing to meet his eye. She was well aware of the efforts Noah had made to talk to her in her time away, but that didn't make up for the months he went ignoring her and invalidating her feelings about Richelle.

"I tried to call you..." he trailed off like he wasn't sure what else to say. It was safe to say the friendship they had wasn't exactly the same. "...I guess I haven't been a very good friend lately."

"I get it Noah, you were going through a lot with your family, but you totally cast me aside when I needed you."

"My family?" Noah asked in confusion. As far as he was aware nothing was wrong in his personal life.

"Yeah, James said that's why you were so distant, right?" Finally the penny dropped and he realised James was covering up his crush on Harper for him. Noah made a mental note to thank him later.

"Yes!" he exclaimed a little too loud earning the attention from all of J troupe. The class all turned their attention to the pair who stood in the hallway.

"Oh look who's finally shown up to class." Richelle sneered from the front row, earning a warning look from Phoebe. Harper felt a familiar feeling of anxiety inside her, but she tried to push it down. She hadn't come back to start up the same drama that drove her away, all that she wanted was to focus on dance.

"Welcome back Harper, feel free to join the class when you're ready. Now let's focus please." Phoebe instructed the class as she resumed the music for their exercise.

Without another word to Noah, she placed her dance bag in her old cubby and removed her shoes before joining the back row. Harper couldn't imagine what kind of storm would brew should she try and stand closer to the front. All she knew is it wouldn't be pretty.

"I'll be surprised if she can even keep up." Richelle muttered to Camille. It was just loud enough that it reached Harper's ears but Phoebe seemed to have missed the comment. She didn't even bother to shoot her a glare, there was no point. Harper had found peace with the fact that Richelle was just a mean girl who clearly had her own issues to work on, and she was apparently the punching bag.

The class continued and as strange as it was to be back dancing after weeks away, it felt amazing. Harper didn't realise how much she had missed it and even doing something as simple as a basic contemporary class had drove all her fears and anxieties away.

Harper left the room the second that Phoebe dismissed them to avoid ay interactions with Richelle or Noah, or anyone for that matter. She briskly headed down to Culture Shock and ordered herself a juice. Her initial plan was to take it home as Kate had told her she could start back slowly so she wouldn't stress herself out. That plan was swiftly derailed.

"Yo Harper!" The familiar voice of James boomed across the coffee shop. The girl winced at the volume of his voice as she turned to see him lounged in a chair gesturing for her to go and sit down. She didn't want to be rude, and James always seemed to be there for her so she did. "What's up I haven't see you in like a year."

"It was four weeks James, but good to know I was missed" she replied with an amused smile. "I just needed a little break to get away from the drama. What's been going on here? Michelle never tells me anything."

"Well, Daniel left because he didn't get the solo, Eldon and Hunter had a dance battle over Michelle and Eldon lost, insane right? So then he lost his nationals solo, Michelle and Eldon broke up. Then Beth kissed me at our duet rehearsal and Riley saw so she broke up with me and to put it lightly, everything's falling apart here."

"Woah." Harper breathed out as she sat back in her chair. She had no idea all that had happened in the space of a month. "And I thought I had problems."

"Yeah Michelle told me you were struggling, anything I can help with?"

"Honestly, I'm just trying to focus on dance and steer clear of any drama. Even if it gets thrown my way I'm just gonna duck and run." She explained and James nodded in understanding. "So what are you gonna do about Riley?"

"What can I do? She clearly doesn't want to fight for us." He moped looking down at his juice.

"She's not the one who messed up James, she wants you to fight for her. God boys can be so clueless." Harper explained as though it was simple as grade one math, although James probably would have struggled with that too. Before he had a chance to respond, she clocked Noah approaching the table with James' ex-girlfriend Beth who appeared to be wearing a t-shirt saying 'I'm with James'. "I'm gonna take that as my queue to leave."

"Harper please don't go, you can't leave me with her." James pleaded as the pair appraoched the table.

"Hey James" the adoring, yet slightly annoying, voice of Beth filled there ears. Noah was slightly behind stiffling a laugh as he watches James squirm. Harper watched his face in amusement as he turned towards Beth with a tight lipped attempt at a smile.

"Oh hey." He replied begrudgingly as the two of them took a seat. Harper didn't need to check the time to know it was time to go.

"Wait Harper!" Noah called out a little too loudly, considering the girl was still stood next to him. He cursed himself as she turned to face him with an unimpressed look. "Are you gonna come and watch our band perform later?"

The girl paused for a moment. She honestly wasn't sure what to think of Noah at that point in time. Sure he had things going on at home, but everyone did, and he didn't exactly make it any easier for her with Richelle. If anything, it was like he wasn't even on her side.

"I don't know Noah, it's my first day back and I-"

"Please!" He begged her, doing his best imitation of a sad lost puppy.

"I'll think about it." She answered affirmatively and although Noah was a little dissapointed to not have a solid 'yes', she didn't say no. That was something to work with.

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hey guys, its been a hot minute. i haven't updated this book in roughly four years, however, i rediscovered it last night and have tons of prewritten chapters that just need editing. so if any readers are still there, hey! and sorry for the four years wait, hope you enjoyed this one <3